Palomino Columbia

Finally we have found paradise, and it took some travelling. Palomino on Columbias North coast is basically like a desert island. Jungle meets the beach, no development, no music, no dirty backpacker bars, but some dirty backpackers. Not the party type though, the dreadlocked peace loving fire twirling types, stinky, but quiet. It's tropical paradise here, and we have found a little retreat slash Cabin on the beach,  which has a pool, a pool table and a bar, what else do you need. It's totally relaxing and a beautiful location.

                                                     The beach in front of our place

                                                                    Peace at last

                                                            Sunsets over the beach

My attempt at a corona advert

Kicking back 

Picture perfection

The Carribean playa blanca

We hitched a ride from Cartegena to Buro  and island off the coast, the beach Playa Blanca was supposed to be a bit of an oasis. It was and it wasn't. The water the beach, the island, stunning. A little crowded at first, and with a beach this nice, there were hoardes of tourists. We walked a couple of mile down the beach found a nice spot, and a cabin, well, it was what we would call a cubby house back home, just a wooden floor with a bed placed on it, a mozzie net, and nailed to a tree a couple of metres above the ground. Right on the beach, it was awesome., 20 bucks a night for this. Totally peaceful, and just incredible water. All good till about 2 am,  when about 100 backpackers decided to setup their party under our deck till dawn. Pumping music, screaming, a complete spewfest. Our owners woke, came out, thinking this is where they might tell them to piss off, nope. They bought out their own speakers, proper big ones, with sub woofers, and then started selling them beers....... Only here could that happen......paradise ruined.

The view from our bed.

The hut on playa Blanca.

The little tree in front of our shack.

Doesn't get much better.

Sunset from our room.

The booze barrow, anything you want alcoholic.

Cartegena Columbia

Arrived in the Caribbean safe and sound in the Northern Columbia city of Cartegena. It's an amazing city, every corner looks like a postcard, and it's hot, real hot. Sitting back watching the sun set over the Caribbean with a beer is a pretty easy way to spend the afternoon. Cartegena is one of the most scenic cities we have seen, amazing place.

                                                      Cartegena one of the streets

The street leading to the beach

Inside the old town.

More of the old town.

Beers on the beach Cartegena.

The Columbian jungle

We heard about a hummingbird reserve deep in the Colombian jungle, high on a mountain. Shunning the tour options we decided to try to get there solo. Hitching a ride from a jeep taxi to the valley from Salento, on arrival I noticed it was full, and said mate, this jeeps full.........."that's ok, you ride on towball" ........ah ok. Coming from Australia where riding a skateboard without a helmet is a felony, I keep being surprised at the complete lack of safety regulations here, but it's sort of refreshing.Brilliant way to see the countryside it turns out, on the back of a jeep, hanging onto the roof racks, coming back, not so good, as it was pissing down with rain, and uphill..... Simply incredible country, a daylong hike up into the jungle at 3000 metres and saw wild hummingbirds buzzing around our heads like flies, stunning landscape and a thunderstorm as we trekked home.....

                                                             The Colombian wilderness

                                      The back of the jeep 80 km hour, and the open road

                                                           The path along the river

Lunch stop

Heading back down.

Valley de Corcora

After months of nagging dressed up as sightseeing opportunities we rented some horses and set out into the valley de Corcora looking for a waterfall that the locals have told us was beautiful. The trail was stunning, a horse trail leading up a river in the valley de Corcora. My horse was an idiot, and to small for me, it even tripped over few times.But Bellinda got the good horse which was fast and obeyed instructions. Such an amazing spot, and the best way to see it on the back of a horse.

                                                         The first river crossing

                                                      Bel on top of Julio.

                                                     The farm house on the trail.

Second river crossing 

The waterfall

Central Columbia Salento

Yesterday we flew into pereira and got a car up to the mountains to a town called Salento. It's an authentic Columbian town, tiny, but very aesthetic. The flight was good, despite the dogs on the plane barking. The main industry here is coffee and there are plantations surrounding the area. It's very green, tropical and warm. It's one of he prettier towns we have seen on this continent. Today we plan to hire some horses and go for a ride, or, maybe mountain bikes. There are heaps of scenic areas to ride into, and fast flowing rivers. The good thing is trout is big here on the menu, or trucha as it's called.

                                             The Main Street of Salento, siesta time.

                                                     The taxi jeeps here, love them.

                                               The main square in Salento, more taxi jeeps.

Salento

The main square.

The bar full of cowboys and old timers

Bogota City Columbia

Last night we touched down in Columbia. Arriving in bogota, we shared a cab with an Irish guy we met in Bolivia, good guy, as he's Irish he drank a beer in the cab. Bogota is your typical South American city, pretty vibrant, and some beautiful buildings. Last night we stayed in an unsavory area, and moved this morning to something a little nicer. Probably staying here for three days, seems enough to see everything, visiting the gold museum today, which is apparently a blast.....

                                                               Plaza de Boliva

And again

The Parliament building.

The Iglesia del Carmen 

The plaza de Bolivia

These guys are on every corner, I feel so relaxed.

Ecuador farewell .........amen

The last day in Quito was spent exploring the religious sites in this amazing city. The rain finally stopped and we saw some beautiful churches. We also discovered the " shoe" district. It was a district with more shoe shops than people, and of course, being in possession of the worlds ugliest and flattest feet, not one shop had my size! Quitos most impressive church Basillica del Voto National had two towers to scale. Being on the receiving end of a slapping in a church in Greece, by an old lady, I was overally cautious. Approached by an old lady to buy religious junk, I politely said no, but she burst into tears, very loudly.......the hallways are large and echoey! Again. I ran away......

                                                         The Basillica del Voto

                                                                  The interior

The halls 

The view from the top across the city.

Shoe shopping, the first shop.

More shoes, happy days.

North of Quito Ecuador

Moving north from Quito, we visited the town of Otavalo which had some of the biggest outdoor markets in South America. It was amazing, literally a whole town was an outdoor market, with everything under the sun. Could have gone nuts on the purchases. Unfortunately we only had an hour or so there, and didn't scratch the surface. We visited the Reserva Ecologica Cotachi and volcan cotacachi which was an extinct volcano crater now filled with water. At 3000 metres it was a battle to reach the crater, but the 30 year old in the party had no issues. We then hit the town of Cotacachi which is famous for its leather. Street after street with awesome shoes, and leather jacket shops, that were super cheap. I was forced to leave empty handed as we just can't carry anymore, Devo! But someone else scored a new sexy leather jacket, but is concerned it's to sexy.....it can never be too sexy.

                                          This lady was a traditional weaver, lama wool used.

                                                    Some locals prepare for the market.

The now extinct crater.

It's along way to the top, at 3000 metres.

The countryside Northern Ecuador